CNN’s Jake Tapper Calls Out Obama & White House on Labeling ISIS the ‘JV’ Terror Team

Back in January, President Obama called ISIS a “JV” team when giving his expert opinion on the group. CNN’s Jake Tapper grilled Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken about this opinion on Friday’s “The Lead.”

Tapper asked, “You say you’ve been warning about it, but in January, President Obama told the New Yorker magazine’s David Remnick that ISIS, which was then still considered a part of al Qaeda, fighting in Syria was like a JV basketball team.

*

He said quote, ‘The analogy we use around here sometimes and is accurate is if a JV team puts on Laker uniforms, that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant.’ How badly did President Obama underestimate it, the threat of ISIS?”

The spokesperson’s deflection that followed continued to downplay the threat of ISIS. Are they oblivious that ISIS is handily defeating the Iraqi army, which outnumbers them by about 15 to 1, and are well on their way to establishing a caliphate?

We cannot afford to downplay threats until they are critical, which sadly seems to be the go-to move in this administration’s playbook.